More reaction from the Bridge:
Jacob Steinberg was our man at Stamford Bridge tonight. His report has landed. You know what to do: click click click click. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Jacob’s report to come soon. In the meantime, here’s what the Press Association have had to say about it. You can start doing whatever it is you get up to below the line, too.
Also a reminder that Michael Butler is at the controls for West Ham United versus Leeds United. That one’s already started, and Leeds are very much on the front foot during the early exchanges.
No word from the managers, with BT Sport switching their focus to Bristol City v Reading in the WSL. It is International Women’s Day, after all. But it won’t be long before Jacob Steinberg’s dispatch from Stamford Bridge lands, so stick around for that.
That win consolidates Chelsea position in the top four. They’re now four points ahead of fifth-placed Everton, three behind Leicester, who are third. Everton still have a game in hand, mind. Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta talks to BT Sport: “Every victory is a step forward. We know we had to cover the ground we lost. Tonight was a very good performance. It’s very pleasing to see the team fighting for the ball, and with our quality we could have scored more goals. We are still far from where we want to be, but we are on the right path.”
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Everton
There’s just enough time for Pickford to turn Mount’s long-distance piledriver away from danger, and that’s the end of a comprehensive win for Chelsea. The 2-0 scoreline flatters Everton. Thomas Tuchel’s honeymoon extends to 11 unbeaten games. Right now, given the form they’re in, they look a shoo-in for a top-four spot. Everton not so much.
90 min +2: The second of four added minutes nearly sees Kante steer a looping header into the top left. It sails wide, but had it been on target, Pickford wasn’t getting there, whether he shouted “wide!” or not.
90 min: Davies is booked for a ludicrous swipe at Alonso. With play stopped again, Chelsea finally send on Pulisic ... but now it’s poor Werner making way. Havertz has done a sly number on his compatriot there! A clever way to give the hook the swerve.
89 min: Havertz, who tonight has enjoyed one of his best performances in a Chelsea shirt, is replaced by Pulisic. Ah hold on, he’s pretending not to see the board, and play starts again. Pulisic doesn’t seem particularly pleased about it.
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88 min: Richarlison storms down the left and feeds Davies infield. Davies backflicks to tee up Bernard, who skies a hysterical shot deep into the Shed End. A rank end to a lovely sweeping move, by some way Everton’s best of the match.
86 min: Nothing doing at the corner.
85 min: Davies loses possession in midfield and suddenly Chelsea are three on two. Werner’s shot from the left is parried by Pickford. Kante returns the rebound. Pickford tips over. A fine double save by Pickford, but what does Werner have to do to score?
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83 min: Holgate crosses from the right. It’s deep. Too deep. Goal kick. Everton have been very poor up front this evening.
81 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but Chelsea are soon coming back at Everton. Werner has the ball at his feet in the box again, but he’s quickly swarmed and can’t work space for a shot.
80 min: A simple long ball down the right opens Everton up. Werner eases Godfrey out of the way and he’s one on one with Pickford, albeit facing a tight angle. He goes for the bottom right and Pickford kicks out for a corner.
79 min: Kante comes on to close this game out. Kovacic makes way.
78 min: Chelsea hog the ball. The clock ticks on. Everton haven’t really threatened to get back into this game.
76 min: Everton make their final change, Bernard coming on for Gomes. “I guess Everton can only break so many away loss streaks that go back to the 90s in one year, right?” You’ll always have Anfield, Brad Wilson.
75 min: Another corner for Everton, this time earned by King down the right. Digne sends a dangerous in-swinger into the six-yard box. Mendy flaps but just about fingertips away, then he’s clattered by Godfrey and the whistle goes for a foul.
Updated
74 min: Richarlison probes down the left and wins a corner off James. Digne’s corner lands in a crowded box but somehow avoids everyone. The ball eventually sails away from the danger zone.
72 min: Everton are nearly undone by a garden-variety long pump upfield. Havertz and Werner are on Godfrey’s tail. The defender, the last man, does extremely well to position himself to draw a foul from Havertz. Had he not dealt with that, Everton were in a serious pickle.
70 min: Ah, this looks like good news. Zouma, having got up and out some weight on his leg, appears fine to continue. That looked unpleasant for a minute back there.
69 min: While the Chelsea medical staff continue to look at Zouma - he might have tweaked his knee - Everton replace Sigurdsson with King.
68 min: Zouma goes down with nobody around him. A slight slip. He looks in some pain. On come the trainers.
66 min: Hudson-Odoi has been highly decent tonight, but that’s the end of his evening. He’s replaced by Mount.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Everton (Jorginho 65 pen)
A hop and a skip, and Jorginho rolls the penalty into the bottom left, sending Pickford the wrong way with the eyes. Crisp and confident.
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Penalty for Chelsea!
64 min: Kovacic rolls a fine pass down the inside-left channel for Havertz, who enters the box and is in the process of rounding Pickford on the outside when the keeper brings him down. The referee points immediately to the spot.
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62 min: James barrels down the middle and looks to find either Hudson-Odoi or Havertz up ahead with a floated pass. Pickford reads the danger well, off his line to confidently claim before the ball can get anywhere near a blue shirt.
60 min: Hudson-Odoi is a constant menace down the left. He again sails in from the flank and this time goes for goal himself, sending a rising rasp towards the top left. Pickford again takes no chances with a shot that might be going over anyway, and tips out for a corner. Nothing comes of it.
58 min: James tries to catch out an out-of-position Pickford with a cheeky long-distance effort, but it’s always heading wide left.
57 min: Davies comes on for Iwobi. Then there’s finally a bit of space for the in-form Richarlison, 20 yards out. He should work the keeper at least, but hoicks his shot wide right. Everton, so close to going two down, were nearly level. A match suddenly on the proverbial knife-edge.
55 min: Nope. No goal. Havertz is a wee bit unfortunate there. I suspect if referee David Coote had given that the other way, VAR wouldn’t have overruled him in that instance either. We’re in the realm of clear and obvious error, in other words. Umpire’s call.
Updated
53 min: Hudson Odoi drifts in from the left and shovels a pass forward for Havertz, who chests down, swivels, and lashes low past Pickford into the bottom right. Goal! Or has that hit his arm? It’s close, especially when you factor the t-shirt rule into the equation. The whistle goes, no goal, but VAR is going to have a check.
Updated
51 min: Alonso curls the free kick powerfully towards the top right. It’s going over, just, but Pickford is taking no chances and fingertips the ball out of play. Fortunately for the Everton keeper, nothing comes of the resulting needless corner.
50 min: James is interrupted mid one-two with Havertz by Digne. The Everton full back celebrates his 100th appearance for the club with a yellow card. A free kick just to the right of the box.
48 min: It’s all Chelsea again. Everton once more finding it tricky to escape their own half. “What a national treasure Gary Naylor is,” purrs Justin Kavanagh. “He even translates the German tactics for us. Surely this Scouse wunderding is a direct (or maybe indirect) descendent of a Bletchley Park codebreaker. Fantastisch Herr Naylor!”
46 min: Chelsea are on the front foot quickly, Hudson-Odoi steaming down the middle and nearly finding Werner with a clever sliderule pass down the right channel. Not quite, but there’s a statement of intent.
Here’s the second half, then. Chelsea get it going. No half-time changes. As we published some pre-match Evertonian optimism ahead of the first 45, it’s only fair and right in terms of balance that we post some pessimism now. “Everton had virtually zero attacking opportunities,” sighs Mary Waltz. “I love how Carlo has made my team an honest contender for the top four for the first time in many years, but he has quite a challenge at the break. Chelsea have imposed their will on my Toffees and I don’t know what he can do to change the direction of this fixture.”
Half-time tasks. Subscribe to the Fiver. Read today’s Fiver. Unsubscribe from the Fiver. Check the contrast and brightness of your device’s screen using this picture of tonight’s fashionably attired goalkeepers.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Everton
There’s just enough time for Gomes to finally force Mendy into meaningful work - he aims low, but not particularly hard, towards the bottom right - and that’s the end of the first half. Chelsea deserve their lead; Everton have a few posers to solve.
44 min: “You can hear Tuchel on BT Sports if you work out how to get the crowd noise off,” says Gary Naylor. “He was screaming ‘Schlecht.. am links’ earlier which suggests that he worked out quickly that Everton were ‘bad’ on the right (and they are - Holgate and Iwobi!) and that Werner and Havertz should go ‘down the left’. I fear vier-nul.” I like the artificial crowd, plus I don’t know how to get rid, so we’re relying on Gary and Jacob for any more of Tuchel’s bons mots.
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42 min: Nothing comes of the corner. Meanwhile here’s Mike Mackenzie: “Should Everton finish in top four, then Carlo Ancelotti should win Manager of the Year. Discuss.” We at the Guardian are contractually obliged to proselytise for Marcelo Bielsa, and at great length, but Don Carlo would of course also be a decent shout for his sterling work at Goodison. He certainly wouldn’t look out of place alongside some of the greats to have previously won this bauble: Joe Kinnear, Dave Jones, Alan Pardew, George Burley, Danny Wilson. Quite the roll of honour.
41 min: Alonso barges his way into space down the middle, and forces a shot towards the bottom left. It’s heading in, but Pickford manages to turn around the post. Close to number two.
39 min: Calvert-Lewin nearly gets on the end of a speculative long pass down the middle. Not quite. Mendy has been a virtual spectator.
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38 min: Can lulls be hectic? If so, here’s one. A fast-paced load of nothing.
36 min: Everton are struggling to get anything going in the Chelsea half. They’re still snapping at Chelsea’s heels, but to little effect.
34 min: More news from Jacob Steinberg at the Bridge. “Reece and Kai got a big lecture from Tommy T after the goal. He’s been hammering ‘Reecey’ all game.” He’s a proactive perfectionist, is Tuchel. As indeed is Jacob, hence these bonus dispatches from the frontline.
32 min: Chelsea deserve the lead on balance. They’ve been much more progressive. Even so, Everton had been looking solid, and it took a big stroke of luck to break the deadlock.
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Everton (Godfrey og 30)
Hudson-Odoi slips a pass down the left for Alonso, who crosses low. Havertz flicks towards the bottom right. It’s heading wide by the looks of it; what is certainly clear is that the ball takes a huge deflection off Godfrey, the ball whistling into the bottom left!
Updated
30 min: The corner leads to an absurd game of pinball on the penalty spot. Chelsea can’t clear, Everton can’t get an effort on goal. Eventually the ball appears to leave the area of its own accord, and the game is over.
29 min: Digne pings the free kick off the Chelsea wall, and now it’s a corner.
28 min: Havertz sashays down the inside right and appears to be brought down by the side of the D by Godfrey. But the referee isn’t interested, and Chelsea’s frustration is compounded when Richarlison falls over Jorginho’s leg down the other end, and the official buys that one. A free kick just to the right of the D, in a very dangerous position.
26 min: It’s all a bit average, this. No real excitement in either box. Plenty of time for everyone to get their gamefaces on.
24 min: MBM corrections and clarifications. Our man at Stamford Bridge, Jacob Steinberg, reports that I was talking toot through my top hat eight minutes ago. “For what it’s worth, Pickford shouted ‘wide’ on that Jorginho volley.” So there you have it. Damn that BT Sport piped crowd noise!
22 min: Havertz dribbles at pace down the right, having been set free by Hudson-Odoi. He reaches the byline and dinks towards Werner in the middle. Pickford reads the danger well, plucking the ball from the air. But Chelsea are getting a little closer, bit by bit.
20 min: Everton will be happy enough with the way this is going. It’s been all Chelsea, pretty much, but Pickford hasn’t had his hands warmed yet.
18 min: Alonso curls it in. Pickford punches clear. Jorginho has another go at a first-time shot, but this one loops harmlessly high and wide left. Nowhere near.
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17 min: Holgate is booked for clipping Werner as the Chelsea striker perambulates down the left. Free kick, and a chance for the hosts to load the box.
16 min: James tries to up the tempo with a power run down the inside right. He’s allowed to get as far as the edge of the box. He shoots. Deflected. Corner. James takes himself. Godfrey half clears, Jorginho meeting it with a low shot that whistles through a thicket of players and sails inches wide of the bottom left. Had that been on target, Pickford wasn’t getting anywhere near it.
14 min: Chelsea ping a few triangles. The Everton lines hold firm. A slow burner, this.
12 min: Everton look happy to sit back and wait for a chance to counter. A long ball launched down the right nearly finds Calvert-Lewin free, but Mendy is able to gather at the edge of his box, just in time.
11 min: Kovacic and Havertz combine well down the middle, the latter nearly wriggling into the box, but once again Everton hold their shape and there’s no way through.
10 min: Chelsea continue to ping it around nicely, but the final ball’s not there yet, with Everton pressing like billy-o. Space and time at a premium right now.
8 min: Hudson-Odoi and Holgate tussle on the edge of the Everton box. Hudson-Odoi falls backwards but still manages to tee up Alonso with a clever toe-poke. But he’s adjudged to have wrestled Holgate to the floor with him. Free kick, and no chance for Alonso to even consider shooting.
7 min: Everton haven’t had much of a touch yet. Chelsea have started confidently, establishing some early control.
5 min: Werner makes his way down the right and earns the first corner of the match off Godfrey. James takes short, a neat one-two with Alonso. He pulls back for Werner, who skies a first-time swipe into the Shed. An average end to a clever training-ground move.
4 min: The seafoam green and charcoals are kicking towards the Matthew Harding Stand in this first half, Chelsea facing the Shed End. Still not much happening, in other words.
2 min: A fairly nondescript start as Chelsea have a good old stroke of the ball, this way and that.
And we’re off! Everton get the ball rolling, but only after everyone takes the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.
The teams are out! Chelsea are in their first-choice royal blue, Everton sport third-choice seafoam green and charcoal, it says here. We’ll be off in a minute, but before all that, here’s some pre-match optimism courtesy of Matt Burtz: “We can always play ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’ until we’re blue in the face (no pun intended today), but back in January 2016 Everton should have won at Stamford Bridge after Ramiro Funes Mori scored a 90th minute goal, only to for John Terry to equalize with a clearly offside goal in the *98th* minute (where’s VAR when you need it?). However, this edition of Everton is ending streaks left and right, and they will definitely give it a go today, and with Carlo at the helm anything is possible. Three clean sheets in a row, also.”
BT Sport asks both managers if this fourth-versus-fifth clash is a must-win. “If at the same time you are able to win while the others lose, because they are your opponents, they are six-point games,” says Thomas Tuchel. “We are in a good shape, they are in a good shape, it is a big match.” Carlo Ancelotti agrees: “It is a really important game ... a difficult game but the momentum is good and we hope to do our best.”
Five changes to the Chelsea XI that started the 1-0 win at Anfield last week. Kurt Zouma, Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz take the places of Antonio Rudiger, Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech. Thiago Silva is back from injury, but only takes up a place on the bench.
Everton make two changes to the team that won 1-0 at the Hawthorns. Gylfi Sigurdsson and Allan replace Bernard and Abdoulaye Doucoure. James Rodriguez is still out with a sore calf.
The teams
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, James, Kovacic, Jorginho, Alonso, Hudson-Odoi, Havertz, Werner.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Rudiger, Thiago Silva, Kante, Pulisic, Giroud, Mount, Chilwell, Ziyech.
Everton: Pickford, Godfrey, Holgate, Keane, Digne, Andre Gomes, Allan, Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: King, Nkounkou, Bernard, Davies, Virginia, Broadhead, John, Tyrer, Onyango.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of fourth versus fifth. It’s a huge game in the race for a place in next season’s Champions League, between two teams very much on an upward trajectory.
At the start of the season, you would have thought fourth would be about par for Chelsea, give or take. Things didn’t go to plan under Frank Lampard, but his replacement Thomas Tuchel has turned it around, and only Manchester City have earned more points than Chelsea since his arrival. Everton meanwhile are certainly exceeding pre-season expectations in fifth, and are looking for their tenth win on the road this season, a total not matched since 1987, the last time they won the title.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are hoping to complete their first league double over Chelsea since 1979, having won 1-0 at Goodison in December, a Gylfi Sugurdsson penalty the difference that day. Unbeaten away in nine matches, and currently on a three-game winning streak, their tails will be up. Only problem is, Chelsea are in a good place too, 11 games unbeaten in all competitions, and they haven’t been beaten by Everton at Stamford Bridge since 1994, the days of Paul Rideout.
Chelsea go into the game as favourites, and with a one-point advantage over their visitors. But Everton have a game in hand, streaks are there to be snapped, and a win today would seriously bolster their bid for a top-four finish. This could be a lot of fun. Kick off is at 6pm GMT. It’s on!
